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Four Rules for Creating a Perfect Home Office
Increase your productivity and improve your sanity by
working in a pleasant, comfortable environment
By Tim McNellie
 Working from home can be a mixed blessing. True, you can roll out of bed and walk to work in about five seconds. A good meal is never far away, and neither are your family and pets. Plus you save a load of a money
on gas. But you also have to be productive in an environment rife with distractions. Some who initially love the idea of working from home are glad to return to a real office after
they find that when one is faced with the choice of watching The View or reviewing actuarial tables at 11 a.m., Barbara Walters usually wins out.
One way to make yourself more
productive at home is to invest the time (and a little money) in a carefully designed home office. Below are some guidelines to get you started.
1. Pick the Right Location:
Perhaps the most important decision you’ll make regarding your home office is where to put it. Since everybody’s needs and living spaces are different, it’s a decision with no general answer. If your home office is for part-time use, for example, you might be able to settle for a corner in a room ordinarily used for something else. But if you’re going to be there for eight hours a day every day, you’re probably better off with a room strictly dedicated to office use. Similarly, if you’re going to be seeing clients in your office, a separate outside entrance will be a huge plus. One thing you want to avoid, if at all possible, is using the kitchen table as
an “office.” It will eventually become unmanageable, and you may lose some of the potential tax benefits of a dedicated office space.
2. Choose Furniture Sensibly: There’s a temptation among first-time home office users to splurge on the best furniture and equipment they can find. If you can afford it, that’s great. But if you’re on a budget – especially if you’re just starting your own business –there are plenty of inexpensive options for furnishing a home office. Some of the more ingenious can be found at a website called IKEA Hacker (ikeahacker.blogspot.com). Visitors to the site aim to make new and inventive use
of IKEA products.
One woman outfitted her
entire home office using $60 IKEA wardrobes. They sit against one wall of the living
room. When she wants to go to work, she simply opens the doors and pulls up a chair; her computer and keyboard sit on a pull-out shelf. At day’s end, she can close the doors and not have to think about work.
A married couple who needed an office that could
comfortably fit two in a tight space installed an IKEA kitchen counter with matching cabinets that perfectly took care of their workspace and storage needs. (Kitchen cabinets also
make versatile bookshelves, as the IKEA hackers have proven).
3. Make It Comfortable: One huge, but sometimes overlooked, aspect of a home office is lighting. A poorly lit work area can cause eyestrain, headaches, and fatigue and generally
make it unpleasant to spend much time in your office. The American Lighting
Association recommends two overhead fixtures – one to the right and one to the
left of your desk. Ideally, these will contain warm fluorescent bulbs, which will provide
ample light while reducing energy costs. To avoid excess glare, the fixtures
should not be directly in front of you. An adjustable desk lamp can also help properly light your area. A good rule of thumb is that the light from a desk lamp should be two-to-three
times as bright as the light from your room’s other light fixtures. Desk lamps and
other spot-lighting work particularly well when combined with a room illuminated by recessed
lighting, like many “real” offices.
When it comes to desk
heights and types of seating, there are various theories on what constitutes an
ergonomically correct workspace. A few good rules of thumb, according to
Darrell Zahorksy, of the Small Business Guide for About.com, are: 1). The top
of your computer monitor should be at or slightly below eye level. If you need
to raise yours, you can buy a riser for a few dollars at any office supply store. 2). Your
feet should rest on the floor. If you’re short, and they dangle, invest in a foot rest.
3). A chair that slightly reclines will be more comfortable and can help minimize lower back pain.
Home office experts also note the importance of a
quiet office, or at least a noise level that’s comfortable to you. To someone who prefers to work in silence, even low levels of noise can have a deleterious effect on productivity. If you have hardwood floors, the problem is magnified, and can even result in troublesome phone
conversations, as the other side wonders if you’re in some sort of phone booth.
Use carpet, rugs, curtains, and dividers to absorb sounds. If noise created by
kids, pets, and other distractions is unavoidable at certain times of the day, one
might even consider noisereducing headphones, which electronically block ambient sounds.
4. Make It Your Own: Since you’re probably going to be in your office for hours at a time, make it as
pleasant as possible. Experts recommend situating your office near a natural light
source to lift the mood of the room. “Make sure the place is not humid or gloomy, since
working under such conditions will not only hamper your productivity, but also harm your electronic equipment,” says Vishal P. Rao, who runs an online discussion forum for home
office workers.
When it comes to decorating your office,
remember that it’s yours, and you can do what you want with it. If you’re a sports fan, why not move in some of your memorabilia to brighten the place up. If you’re a film buff, hang up some old movie posters. Whatever makes you happy. “The whole point of an office is that it’s your
space,” notes HGTV website writer Kathy McCleary.
One way to make yourself more productive at home is to invest the time (and a little money) In a carefully designed home office.
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